Recall Mr Alan Freestone and his belief that somehow women are responsible for the actions of the Plymouth shooter? I checked out the website that Mr Freestone runs, and among the posts I found an article suggesting nationalised (or as he calls it, socialised) healthcare is inferior to free market healthcare.
Does this stack up? Let’s firstly consider the quality of services. Details are taken from here.
The UK has a better life expectancy for both men and women. The UK has more hospital beds per person than the US. There is more chance of reaching 60 in the UK. The number of doctors per person is virtually the same. There is a lower infant mortality rate in the UK. There is a lower death rate from cancer in the UK. There is a lower maternal death rate in the UK.
Before continuing to compare quality, let’s consider something else. Mr Freestone (and many others who criticise nationalised health care) will often hold up the NHS has an example of how poor nationalised health care can be. Leaving aside how they cherry-pick the data, they ignore the fact that the NHS is not the only example of how nationalised health care services can be run.
The French health care system is often rated as the best there is, and it’s a combination of nationalised and private health care. The French enjoy far more hospital beds per person than in the US and more doctors too. They do not pay through the nose for their services, unlike their US counterparts. In fact, very few countries pay the extortionate prices that Americans face for their health care. I compared the costs before, and they are staggering, especially for services that vary wildly in quality.
The idea that different, competing doctors could offer patients better quality of care is defied by how free markets typically work. Private enterprises will always put costs and profits ahead of the customer (sorry, patient). A doctor’s surgery that revolves around income to survive is never going to prioritise a patient’s needs.
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I’m curious as to how people would rate their care. Not only in the amount of “stuff”/tests they got done for how much money, but their interactions with doctors.
In the U.S., TBH, medicine is becoming a business. Sitting in a doctor’s office is like being a step in an assembly line. Receptionists/nurses put patients in rooms and the doctor goes down the line, one after another, with very little attention (in my experience).
Is it like that in the UK?
I guess here, it’s rated between speed of service and quality. Personally, it boils down to when I’ll get an appointment with my local GP and how fast a referral happens if I need one. Usually it’s pretty good, in terms of quality and speed.
Prescription drugs cost a bit of money but not a lot. There isn’t usually a long wait for them.
I dare say the experience for doctors and nurses is similar in both countries. They’re overworked and shuffled between a lot of patients at any given time.
Hmm… do you have a continuous relationship with your GP, or is it just a different person every time who’s unfamiliar with your care?
See, it’s hard to appreciate the difference without numbers. Like, if we need a GP appointment, we can usually get one in about a month (I’m talking non-Covid times; it also depends on the time of year – end of the summer and holiday seasons are bad).
Prescriptions, it takes about 20 minutes to get them. But, how much is paid varies wildly. I’m on a state aid program, so I can’t even compare what I pay to the “average” American.
How does it compare to the UK, in your experience?
(I totally agree, though. It doesn’t matter where they are, health care workers are overworked, underpaid, rarely appreciated, and beyond a privilege to have at our service. <3)
I’d like to say I see the same GP, depending on whether he or her retires, transfers etc. There isn’t usually a lot of rotation, but I can’t compare that to the hospital as I thankfully (and touch wood!) don’t go there very often!
Prescriptions take a little longer, at least initially. The doctor has to sign them off and it might take a day to get them, though repeat prescriptions are usually quite quick.
That’s not terrible. I mean, we can leave a doctor with a prescription, so I guess a lot of Americans would have a problem with it. Because they’re spoiled.
Sometimes I wonder if it takes a couple of days to get a prescription because that’s how long it takes to decipher the doctor’s handwriting?
OMG! You’re not wrong!
I’m convinced they go to a special class in medical school to get their handwriting that bad.
Thing is… whoever marks their handwriting… do they mark the good as bad and bad as good?!
Now we’re over-thinking it. Or… are we?